


It Starts Like This

by thestarsareouttonight



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Light Angst, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 13:09:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7846312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestarsareouttonight/pseuds/thestarsareouttonight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It starts like this. Ed’s desperate. He doesn’t know where Al is. Ling mentioned something about the Promised Day before Greed took over and he’s letting the one person with information slip away. </p><p>Or an examination into Greed and Ed's relationship up until Greed's death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Starts Like This

**It starts like this**. Ed’s desperate. He doesn’t know where Al is. Ling mentioned something about the Promised Day before Greed took over and he’s letting the one person with information slip away.

He’s desperate and Greed has apparently dissociated himself from the other homunculi again after remembering his first form and he could use the help so he blurts out, “Then why don’t you team up with us? You’ve got nowhere to go. Why not come with us?” He sees Greed falter, pain spread across his face for a split second before it vanishes and Greed laughs in his face, making it clear that he’s a leader, not a follower.  

Ed almost lets him get away, but he needs Greed’s information, needs the companionship to a certain extent (though he’d never admit it aloud), years of traveling with Al and working as a State Alchemist for the military made it so he wasn’t used to not having someone he can talk to and maybe if Greed comes with him, he can get through to Ling.

So he chases after Greed, “Listen to me, Greeling, I’ll follow you. I thought about it and I’ve decided to join your team after all and since these guys seem to follow me everywhere, you’ve got two chimeras on your team as well. I realized something. I’ve been a follower ever since I became a dog of the military. I lost my pride a while back so I’m already used to rolling over on command. And besides, there’s too much at stake. I can’t let information you’ve got slip through the cracks. Heh, I really can’t let my ego get in the way.”

Greed looks at him, hides the shock and, what Ed guesses is, something akin to happiness.

 **This is how it ends.** Greed’s pulled out of Ling and into the bearded bastard. Ed watches helplessly as his friend, his something else (because they had never really defined it, never really had the time to with everything else going on, time that they’ll never have now) dissolves in the sky above them. Ed delivers the final blow on father, enraged. This wasn’t how it was meant to end.

“Not your follower anymore, you bastard, because you had to go get yourself killed.”

The immortal dead. The Fullmetal Alchemist without a Door of Truth. The greedy acting selfless.

It ends with contradictions.

 **Maybe it starts like this.** Ed and Al are visiting Izumi when Al goes missing, gets kidnapped by a team of chimeras and a man-a homunculus-with a carbon ultimate shield. He calls himself Greed and he’s different, different than the two who shared the same tattoo as him that killed Number 48 with no mercy. Ed thinks he’s a lot more human than the other two homunculi he’s encountered. He’s not evil, not trying to create Philosopher Stones like the other two; he’s just greedy. He makes a note of it in his mind, assuming that they’ll run into each other again.

 **It continues on like this** _._ Ed makes the journey to Xing on the anniversary of the Promised Day. Al doesn’t understand why; this was the day they finally got Al’s body and Ed’s arm back. Shouldn’t he want to spend it in Risembool celebrating?

But Ed always goes, even decades after, even when his body aches from age, he manages to make it to Xing to commiserate with the Emperor of Xing. They were the only two who knew Greed really, knew who he was, that he was more human than any of people fighting on the other side.

“You know, Ed, in the end, he admitted that his greed wasn’t for money and power, but for friends that would care about him like you care about Al.”

“That bastard better have realized that he had that in you and me,” Ed pointedly doesn’t look at Ling, doesn’t know if he wants Ling to see him that vulnerable.

Ling’s face softens, “He did, Ed. That’s why he was okay with dying. He was willing to die, tricked me into letting him. He wouldn’t want the two of us crying over something he chose to do.” Ed thinks that maybe Ling’s words do a little to alleviate the constant pain in his chest.

 **It almost starts like this.** Ed hears his friend screaming as the Philosopher Stone enters his bloodstream, Greed overtaking him.

Greed smirks and Ed’s screaming on the inside, because Ling was his friend, but something inside of Ed stirs, something that seems to be along the lines of ‘want.’

Ling comments on it the next time he sees Ed as himself, says Ed’s Qi was certainly interesting when Greed first appeared. Ed bangs him on the head and pretends nothing of it, because he’s not allowed anything like that; his life is still Al’s right now and Greed’s been brainwashed by Father again.

 **It stagnates like this.** Greed’s a loyal homunculi again, serving Father’s wishes and Ling’s gone and Ed doesn’t know where it falls on his list of priorities. He doesn’t know where Greed went and he really needs to learn alkahestry so they can find a way to stop Father.

But it’s always in the back of his mind, because Ling’s important to Ed, one of his only genuine friends. He hopes Greed strays again; it’s the only way Ed can envision Ling eventually getting control over his body back.

 **It really starts like this** _._ Ed’s been traveling with Greed for two months, been friends with Greed for two months when Greed gets curious, “So what is Edward Elric greedy for?”

Ed doesn’t hesitate, “My brother’s body back.”

Greed rolls his eyes, “That isn’t greed. Greed is defined by an intense and selfish desire for something. All your wants seem to be selfless. It’s strange, intriguing even, to someone like me.”

“I lost the right to be greedy after I tried to bring my mom back. I saw how greed can lead to destruction of everything around you. Look what my greed did to Al.

Greed laughs, “Saying that to greed incarnated is a bit hurtful, don’t you think, pipsqueak?”

Ed visibly tenses before exploding, “And calling me pipsqueak isn’t? I’m growing!”

“Maybe that’s something you’re greedy for then. Height?”

His eye twitches, “You’re a real bastard. Maybe even a bigger one than Mustang.”

Greed ignores him, unable to stop himself from smirking when he asks his next question, “You want to know what I’m greedy for, Edward Elric?”

Ed doesn’t have to know how to read people’s Qi to know that there’s been some sort of change in the rooms atmosphere, “I think there’s too long of a list.”

“Maybe so,” and he’s staring at Ed like Ed’s something really special and Ed doesn’t know how to deal with that; he hasn’t really been something special to anyone aside from Al since his mother died. He didn’t even know Greed could look at someone like that, with such genuine care. He shifts, uncomfortable in Greed’s gaze, “I’m greedy for a certain short, blond alchemist. It’s distracting me from wanting anything else. It’s rather inconvenient.”

“Calling me short isn’t really helping you get closer to reach that goal,” Ed finds himself saying, face tinting red, at a loss to really muster up anything else.

“I always said I never lie so I guess I’m just going to have to let this one _little_ wish slip through my fingers then,” Greed sounds too smug to actually believe that he won’t be fulfilling this particular desire.

And Ed, he’s scared. He hasn’t wanted something for himself in a while. Maybe he always says he joined the military to get both his and Al’s bodies back, but he knows that he couldn’t care less about getting his arm and leg back; it’s always been about Al. When he thinks about the last time he wanted something for himself, he remembers screams and blood and his brother’s clothes lying on the floor, Al no longer in them. He remembers a monster, neck twisted, reaching out for him. He remembers the guilt (though he doesn’t need to remember it, because he still constantly feels it).

“Greed isn’t always a bad thing, Ed,” Greed’s voice is soft, taking on a tone that Ed’s only heard from people like Al and Winry, “You wouldn’t be serving me if you thought so. Sometimes people need a little greed to push them toward success, to allow themselves to be happy.”

Ed’s not sure if he deserves happiness, at least not yet, not until Al’s back in his own body, but it’s one night and he can’t get closer to helping Al until tomorrow so he allows himself to give in to something that maybe he’s been hiding his greed for.

(It doesn’t last one night).

 **It doesn't end like this.** Ed's happy. Greed's next to him and he finally feels free, finally escaped the punishment of human transmutation, the overwhelming guilt that’s always held him down. In fact, it doesn't end at all. Instead, it lingers. Lingers with Ed constantly, some nights until he can't breath. Lingers to the point that sometimes he has to force himself from compromising all his morals and finding some way to bring back Greed, because it's not taboo. It's not human transmutation. It just requires the Philosopher's Stone. Those nights Ed hates himself the most. For him to even think that his own happiness was worth the destruction of millions of souls....

So he lets it linger because Greed was his _something_ and the pain of losing that doesn't ever leave. He thinks it’s ironic that he got one of the most important people back only to lose another one alongside his alchemy. Taking Greed hadn’t been enough; instead, Truth laughed in his face, demanding more and Ed willingly destroyed his Door of Truth, because he’d still do anything to get his brother back. He wonders how much he has to give before he can finally have atone for an attempt at human transmutation.

 **This is how it begins**. Father wants to purge himself of his seven deadly human sins. Pride and Lust are the first two created and after killing more and more humans, he creates Greed. Father promises Greed power, that one day Father’s going to be God and Greed’s going to be high up on the chain as well. How else would he pay back his third oldest homunculi after all? Father knows exactly how to manipulate Greed, keep him at bay, controls every variable so that Greed and the other homunculi are obedient.

Father doesn’t expect humanity to be such an influential variable, but when Greed’s exposed to it, he strays. There’s something peculiar about the humans. They have ideas of belonging, of companionship. Greed thinks of his relationship with the other homunculi, his relationship with Father and the comparisons causes some sort of ache in his chest.

He leaves. He can’t be contained. He’s Greed. Father’s limiting him, not giving him all the power to satiate him. He thinks he might be able to convince himself of that. How embarrassing to admit that he might understand the concept of loneliness, to admit that he’s never felt a desire as overwhelming as the one for a friend.

It begins with all encompassing _greed_.

 **This is how it subsides.** Ed’s seen enough people living in self-pity; he already used his allotted time to wallow following his failed attempt at human transmutation. He still hurts, feels the grief every time he closes his eyes, but he just needed to stand up and walk. Move forward. He (practically) has two good legs, so he should use them. What hypocrite would he be not to follow his own advice.

Besides, Ed thinks it might be time to allow himself to be happy, that it’s okay to want, because greed’s not always a bad thing. He wouldn't have served Greed if it wasn't. He smiles at the memory. 

It subsides with hope (and a little bit of greed).

**Author's Note:**

> sorry if the ending seemed rushed!! I was originally going to end it with Greed's birth but I couldn't stand to see Ed so miserable after everything he went through.


End file.
